Personal Statement For Teaching Mathematics

As a math teacher, I answer the following question at least once a week: “Am I going to use this in my life?” The first thing that comes to my mind is: “You will use math to pay your taxes, take your car to a mechanic, compare the number of hours worked and your paycheck”, among others. “When a topic connects to what students like to do, engagement deepens as they willingly spend time thinking, dialoguing, and creating ideas in meaningful ways. Making learning contextual to real-world experiences is a key learning technique with differentiating for student interests.” (McCarthy, 2014). Knowing the interests of my students is essential for them in order to master the material being covered in class. In addition, this gives me the opportunity to create a differentiating classroom. A few months ago I talked with the administration in my school and I let them know that my desire is that students have the opportunity to go to college or university to complete a degree,

The purpose of the study is to identify how varying ways of knowing mathematics manifests in the use of the core practice of facilitating classroom discourse. I am interested in better understanding how teachers use their mathematical knowledge for teaching to facilitate meaningful discourse. Gaining greater understanding it this area will aid in assisting teachers in developing the skill of facilitating meaningful discourse. The ability to engage students in mathematical discussions that enhance student learning has continued to be a topic in mathematics education and is viewed as a major component of mathematics education reform. It is vital that teachers, novice and experienced, develop the skills necessary to create a learning environment

I see students as the next generations’ heroes in so many fields. In my vision, I have to inspire students and prepare them with confidence, knowledge, experience and skills. Which means I encourage, communicate, guide, teach, and assess students in order to enrich their infrastructures.

I am determined to pursue a degree on mathematics, specifically, discrete mathematics. For discrete math and combinatorics and a range of allied fields, Rutgers is one of a small number of best institutions in the world (not just the U.S.).  Since that is my main interest at this time, why do I want to transfer away from such a world center of discrete math?

Another way I plan to develop students’ critical thinking skills is by including more information-based texts in my curriculum. An article in the Early Childhood Education Journal discusses how two second grade teachers incorporate this into their classrooms (Calo, 2011). My favorite way that the teachers used informational texts was by choosing readings related to what was going on in the students’ lives. In one classroom, they had weekly visits from service dogs, so the teacher chose texts about dogs. For elementary students, this is a great way to get them engaged, ask deeper questions, and promote critical thinking.

Teaching higher order thinking skills is not a recent need. It is apparent that students, at all levels of education, are lagging in problem-solving and thinking skills. Fragmentation of thinking skills, however, may be the result of critical thinking courses and texts. Every course, especially in content subjects, students should be taught to think logically, analyze and compare, question and evaluate.

       Public schools have discovered the importance of critical thinking, many people are trying to teach children how to do it. The problem is that very few teachers know how to do. Robert Sternberg, an early advocate of critical thinking in teaching,

Sharing her philosophy that “when kids develop critical thinking skills they are then able to apply what they learn to new situations and ideas” (Rachel) effectively stresses the importance of not simply memorizing facts, but understanding the concepts for constructing the foundation of future skills. Encouraging the growth of these skills and building practice opportunities into her daily routine so thoroughly, but naturally, she struggles with pinpointing specific examples, embedding it in numerous areas of literature, mathematics, science, and even social skills, allowing occasions for observation and discussion of subtle context clues. Equally important, rather than simply supplying her students with responses to their queries she asks leading and open ended questions, allowing them to discover the answer on their

Another idea to improve mathematics performance in elementary level is to encourage the student to link the existing knowledge and the new knowledge effectively while working math problems/examples. A worked example is “a step-by-step demonstration of how to perform a problem” (Clark, Nguyen, & Sweller, 2006, p. 190). This will prepare the students for similar problems in the future as they bridge the connection between the problems and the examples. In many cases, students are encouraged to link the informal ideas with the formal mathematics ideas that are presented by the teacher to be able to solve problems. When students examine their own ideas, they are encouraged to build functional understanding through interaction in the classroom. When students share among themselves on differences and similarities in arithmetic procedures, they construct the relationship between themselves hence making it the foundation for achieving better grades in mathematics. Teachers can also encourage students to learn concepts and skills by solving problems (Mitchell et al 2000). Students do perform successfully after they acquire good conceptual understanding because they develop skills and procedures, which are necessary for their better performance. However, slow learning students should engage in more practice

“Helping students develop mathematical dispositions in which they share their ideas, discuss others’ ideas, and so on, is always a challenge,” (The National Council of Teachers Mathematics, 2003, P. 151). I found this quote and reading to be very relatable, in the sense that students can often struggle to come up with their own ideas. This was definitely true for me and my group when we were working on the locker problem in class. In the book and in class, discussions can really benefit students and keep them engaged. “To encourage all students to contribute to discussions, the teacher should ask other students to explain their classmates ideas,” (The National Council of Teachers Mathematics, 2003, P. 153) this statement made me think of dialogic teaching. Dialogic teaching is students having a rich discussion amongst each other while being guided by the teacher. The students find out the answer on their own and the teacher does not tell them. So social norms and classroom management plays a big role when students problem solve.

The article, “Never Say Anything a Kid Can Say,” by Steven Reinhart, was a very great read and a great article on teaching mathematics in the classroom. The article is about the different teaching techniques that help encourage children in the classroom continuously think about and participate in what they are being taught. I personally enjoyed the article because the techniques that are shared in the article allow the children to experience real life; the children are questioned, allowed struggle, and they are taught they must learn and take responsibility; therefore, this article would be a great addition to the classroom. Steven Reinhart, the author of the article, “Never Say Anything a Kid Can Say,” held a very strong position of basically

According to Supon, one of the fundamental purposes of teaching critical thinking is to enhance the abilities of students to become critical thinkers. Corporate leaders, educational researchers, employers, and parents have continually pushed teachers to assist their students in the development of critical thinking ability. Critical thinking is a skill that ?involved not only knowledge of content by also concept formation and analysis, reasoning and drawing conclusions, recognizing and avoiding contradiction, and other essential cognitive activities? (Supon, 1998).

Although schools have recently incorporated requirements to help the development of critical thinking, it remains a skill that is often learned outside of the classroom. Through the program of Common Core, schools have created an environment of higher standards and problem solving courses. Along with critical thinking, abstract thinking looks at the deeper meaning of things, and they both begin in young ages in children. The jump from concrete to abstract and critical thinking comes with time and lessons from not only the classroom, but everyday experiences. How do schools help children develop critical thinking skills and move on from concrete to abstract thinking?

When the kids are learning something, when they finally understand something, when I see that “Ah-ha!” moment, I realize that it is all work it. I love to see them

When defining the term “critical thinking” it can seem overwhelming and daunting, especially for young learners. In laments terms, you are teaching your student how to think for him or herself when it comes to problem solving. Instead of giving the student the answer, you give them the tools to discover the answer him/herself. Critical thinking is an important component of any classroom. No matter the age group, these skills stay with a child for the rest of his or her life. As a teacher, it is important to understand what critical thinking pertains to and how to structure part of your lesson plan around developing critical thinking skills.